The kids were driven back to Linda's House, the car stopped on the
way to the door, to let the kids out of the car to go wait in the foyer of
Linda's house again. Linda poked her head out of the car window and waved
to them all, telling them she'd be with them later, also waving to her
board as she was going to miss it. Slash and the kids waved back to Linda,
and the car pulled in through the gates, and into the garage.
Upon leaving the car, Linda went up to her room and plopped in her bed, Linda's room was of very brilliant design, the walls were painted with a brilliant tan-like color that amplified the sunlight that shone into the room from the overly large window that yawned across the back of the room. One side of the room had her bed, her nightstand for her glasses of water and for some morning cosmetics, as well as her dresser, mirror, closet which was filled to the brim with literally hundreds of different dresses and clothes. The other side of her room had her television, a sofa and recliner with a coffee table between them, another closet for board games, video games and game systems, as well as sleepover gear in case people were sleeping over (sleeping bags, flashlights, etc.)
Linda put her face in a pillow and began thinking to herself, "Why did it have to be my mom who has to suffer like this? She's never done anything to deserve it, if anyone deserves it I do." She stirred in her bed uncomfortably, the thought of her mother not giving her any peace whatsoever. She then thought it best if she went to talk with the rest of the kids, and she still had 20 minutes before Yanci would come to take her to the hospital to see her mom, so she got out of her bed, flicked the light off, and walked out the door and down the long stairs to the foyer.
The kids were sure enough there, Nancy had found a bunny just outside Linda's doorstep, and had brought it into her house to pet it, Linda cracked a smile, as she too liked bunnies, but not to Nancy's extreme. Jam had on a headset, was reclined in the couch, and was listening to some of his favorite bands, he bobbed his head back and forth, and at times to the side, he was quite happy right where he was. Tommy was stuffing his face with a couple hamburgers he had gotten at a restaurant he saw on the way back from Night Highway, "Good thing THESE aren't wax!" he said to himself.
Linda then noticed Slash, he was on the other side of the foyer, sitting on the ground looking at the boards he won, also looking at his own board. Linda walked over to Slash and kneeled down to talk to him, Slash looked over to Linda and then back at his boards. "Mind if I take a look?" Linda asked Slash. Slash nodded, and Linda picked up the Alpine board Jam had lost to Slash. "Wow, it's got almost all of the New York rapping sensations on here!" she said, looking at it with interest. "You could sell that board for a fortune!" "I'm not selling it." Slash replied, looking at Nancy's board. "Oh, I didn't mean you would actually sell it, just meant that it's valuable." Linda said. Slash nodded again, knowing what she meant, and then looked at Nancy's board again. "How's her board?" Linda asked. "Umm, full of bunnies and butterflies." Slash replied, giving the board a questionable look. "Though I do like the arrowed end of the board, makes it a lot faster, but if you tried riding that board backwards, ugh, you'll be bulldozing snow right in your face, no wonder Nancy sometimes has trouble on Silver Mountain." Slash nodded to the board, put it down, and then picked up Linda's Star Board.
Linda realized he was looking at her board, and looked at it herself. "How does it look?" she asked. Slash looked over the Star Board; he noticed there were no scratches, dents, or nicks in the board at all, not even from the rough ground of Night Highway. "How did you manage to get out of Night Highway without even dinging the board?" Slash asked Linda curiously. "I try to turn on the banked turns using the bank as support so I can get more speed, and if you're fast enough, a pile of gravel even seems like a smooth ride over." Linda replied, Slash gave Linda an unsure look, "How much wax you put on this board?" He asked her. "Not much actually, it doesn't need much as the wax I put on stays on for a long time." Linda boasted proudly.
Linda then eyed Slash's board, the Blaze Board he had used. "I couldn't believe you pulled so far in front with that board." She said to Slash, giving him a surprised look, "I thought when you said "Blaze Board" you mean it would only go fast initially, like an Alpine Board, but that board pretty much gobbled up bombs, and then you blasted off like a rocket!" Slash grinned at her comment. "I didn't think it would do that either, it must've been what the flames meant at the back of the board." Slash replied, taking out some board wax and slowly coating his board with it. "To tell you the truth." Slash continued, "I almost fell off my board when it first did that. I thought I had grabbed a speed fan by mistake, but when I felt hot air coming from behind, and saw a bomb and fire, I almost thought it was going to knock me head first into a wall." Slash rubbed his board gently with the wax, making sure his board stayed in top shape. "What'd you get so talkative for all of the sudden?" he asked Linda.
"I'm still worried, and I can't get it out of my head that my mom is at the hospital and not here with me." Linda said, now getting a bit teary from the subject being brought up. Linda rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of any signs of being sad, especially in front of all the kids at once, she hated making a scene of herself in a bad way, and it would ruin her reputation. "She's gonna be fine." Slash insisted. "If I know doctors, when they can't find a way to cure someone one minute, they find out a way in about 2 minutes later, those doctors just get you riled up." Linda shivered slightly, hoping Slash was right, Yanci then came walking down the stairs slowly, walking between the kids and announcing. "If you wish to go to the hospital to see you mother, Ms. Maltinie." Yanci said in his baritone voice, "It should be at this time, we would be there an hour before they close the hospital to visitors." Linda nodded, telling the kids to make their way out front so they could get into the limousine.
The car pulled out front, being driven by Yanci as usual. Linda, this time, got in front and sat next to Yanci, the rest of the kids took seats in the back of the limousine and buckled themselves in, Linda buckled herself in as well, and then Yanci began driving to the hospital.
"Aw, I didn't get to board this time." Tommy said, stuffing another burger into his mouth. "I was hoping to try and get a shot at that course." "Well, you lost." Said Jam, snickering to himself, remembering the small rock, paper, scissors game they had played beforehand. Tommy coughed as he heard Jam, choking a bit on his burger as he coughed it up back into his hand, Nancy gagged as she saw Tommy hurl back up his burger, luckily, Linda didn't hear it, and she wouldn't be yelling at Tommy for doing something disgusting. Tommy grumbled at Jam and hollered, "Hey, just because you won a small game doesn't give you the right to stomp me like that." Jam just gave him a look, wondering what Tommy was talking about, then just looked back down, ignoring him.
They were about half way to the hospital, Linda had turned on some dance music for the rest of the kids, it was Linda's favorite station, and the rest of the kids were enjoying the music, Nancy even began dancing in her seat, Jam bobbed his head to the sides as he did with his headphones on, "Hey, it's not New York, but it's music, so it's good!" He said, grinning as he felt the beat to the music. Slash was being careful not to scoff the signatures on Jam's board as he waxed Jam's board, Tommy had been rummaging in a drawer that was next to his seat, and found a pack of M&Ms that had been left in it since last Easter (And it was November right now), he took the pack, ripped it open, and looked inside. "I wouldn't eat that." said Slash, realizing what the pack was, and when it was from, "You'll be the one sick and not Linda's mom if you eat that." Tommy winced at the thought, opened the window, and tossed the pack out the window. Tommy must have perfectly timed that, as the M&Ms spilled out as he through them out to a very close-by pedestrian, they spilled all over the poor man, and he slipped on the rock hard M&Ms and fell flat on his rear, rubbing his rear as he got up. The man shook his fist at the car as it passed out of sight.
Finally, they were there, at Snow Town Hospital. It was a pretty average hospital, as far as hospitals are concerned, nurses in white suits, doctors in white coats and wearing things over their mouths, and tile hallways that stretched almost endlessly. Linda went up to the reception desk and pleaded, "Where is my mom? Her name is Mrs. Maltinie? I need to see her." The nurse at the desk moved to her computer, and quickly typed up Mrs. Maltinie's name, she then gave Linda a small piece of paper, reading aloud, "Room 274, floor 8." the nurse said. The phone at the desk rang, and the nurse answered it, quickly taking her eyes off Linda and the rest of the kids. "Alright everyone." Linda said to the kids, "She's on Room 274, on floor 8, let's go, she better be alright, I don't know what I'd do if she wasn't." the kids followed Linda to the elevator, they took it up to floor 8, they then walked down a corridor that felt like they ran a mile when they finally reached Room 274, on the door was even a file folder in a little holder that had written on it.
"Mrs. Marlene Maltinie Patient 60536. Doctor: McCarthy"
Linda quickly opened the door, and looked into the room, the room was quite dark, except for a lighted, yet curtained-off bed area in the other corner of the room. "Wait here, and don't come in until I tell you to." Linda said to the kids as she walked closer into the room. Linda felt around the room, making sure she wouldn't bump into anything. Linda almost stumbled on a cord that ran across the room, but she maintained her footing and reached over to the curtained area, peeking between the curtains.
What she saw scared the very wits out of her, two doctors in their white coats and mouth pieces were around her mother, who was laying motionless, except for a hint of her breathing, in the middle of a bed. The doctors had hooked Mrs. Maltinie up to many machines, and she also had some ice packs around her, perhaps to cool her temperature. Linda looked around for any sign of hope for her mother, and sure enough, she found a digital thermometer had been hooked up to her mother as well. It read 107.4, which felt a little better, as it was at least a digit lower then previously told.
"Can I help you little girl?" one of the doctors said, spotting her out of the corner of his eye. "I'm sorry little girl, but you can't see what we're doing right now, you'll have to wait outside the room." Linda looked to the doctor with very pale eyes, and began to plead, "Please let me see my mom, I don't want her to die, please..." the doctor escorted Linda out of the room, though Linda did resist, she was forced out nonetheless. Linda had begun bawling in front of all the kids as she was brought out, she didn't care now if they had seen her or not, she was outright terrified for her mother.
An hour passed, the kids were getting tired of hearing Linda's crying, they were stuck standing in a hallway, waiting for the doctors to finish in the room. Finally, the doctors stepped out of the room, and called Linda over to them. The doctor spoke, "You can go in now, she's resting, and we had iced her down so her temperature would go down, we're giving her some medicines that should restore her electrolytes, so her body can start fighting the sickness again."
Linda worriedly walked into the room, seeing the curtains had been parted, so that she could her sick mother. Her mother was very cold to the touch, and sweating from the exhaustion of what her body was fighting. Linda put her hand upon her mother's forehead, feeling her clammy skin; Linda winced, almost as if she felt her mother's pain. "My god." Linda said weakly, pulling up a stool and looking at her mother sadly, Linda put her head down on her mother's side and began to sob, the rest of the kids began slowly entering the room, looking at Linda crying.
"Geeze, she's really worked up." said Jam, looking at both Linda and her mother, "I think we did the right thing going with Linda to see her mother." Slash added. "I think this won't be the only time we'll see Linda like this." Nancy added, "I mean she can be mean and all, but even a mean and nasty person has a heart." Linda's mother finally began awakening, looking at Linda next to her, "Hello there, darling." Mrs. Maltinie said to her daughter, "What, are you doing here.?" she bit back some of her words from feeling pain within herself, Linda took hold of one of her mother's hands, and sobbed. "I wish this never happened to you mom." Linda said to her mother with tears in her eyes, "You're not the one who deserves this, since when do nice people get punished like this?" Mrs. Maltinie put her other hand behind Linda's head, comforting her, "It's not like that at all Linda." she said, "I merely got sick from something I caught, and I am recovering, if I make it through this, then I do, if I do not, then, I had a good life, if I do leave you, then may your father be both I and you, as I will be with you, always in spirit, not even me leaving can break that." Linda gave her mother a hug, and kissed her on the cheek, tears trickled down her eyes, an obvious sign she was seriously being torn apart by this. Slash and the kids looked as Linda was with her mother, they even had begun to tear up from the event, Tommy blew his nose inside a burger he was eating, Nancy pulled down one of the ears on her rabbit tiara and wiped her eyes with it, and Slash planted his face in Jam's hat while it was still on his head and was bawling. Jam too also had begun sobbing, and Linda was able to hear him.
Linda turned around, looking at the rest of the kids, then looked back to her mother. "I have to go for now mom, I am going to stay here at the hospital, I don't want to leave you alone in here." Linda said to her mother. Mrs. Maltinie smiled to Linda, and nodded, she then closed her eyes to go to sleep.
Linda motioned to Slash, Jam, Nancy, and Tommy to get out of the room, along with her. They all went back to the lobby, where Yanci himself was waiting for them.
"Is Mrs. Maltinie alright Ms. Maltinie?" Yanci asked Linda. "She's still badly ill; they just gave her a new medicine." Linda said, "Hopefully by tomorrow we'll know how she does." Linda then went up to the reception desk to talk to the nurse, the nurse though, was on the phone with a friend of hers, and from what the conversation seemed, it was the nurse's boyfriend.
Linda grumbled at waiting, went behind the desk, snatched the phone out of the nurse's hand and slammed it on the hook. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!" the nurse shouted at Linda, "Your 'sugar-lumpkins' can wait!" Linda yelled back at her, "I have a mom who is dying, and I need to ask you something about it, now LISTEN!" The nurse completely froze from hearing Linda's voice so loud, the kids though didn't at all find it surprising, as she would do that a lot at school.
Linda talked to the nurse, and was able to get the nurse to let them stay overnight, when Linda came back to tell everyone what she had been talking to the nurse about, Jam stood up and gave her a look. "You mean we gotta spend the night with the sick guys and people in here?" he said. Slash too also began complaining of the same thing, Nancy was watching as they began arguing. Tommy on the other hand, got up and walked in between them all. "Alright, that does it." Tommy said, "I been too quiet, it's time I said something. I think we should all respect what Linda is doing, I mean look at her, she already let herself go in front of all of us, completely letting her tears flow right in the middle of the hallway, and right in front of her mom, she's really worried about it, and if Linda's any friend of yours, you'll stay and see this through, that's what I'm doing!" Tommy stomped his foot on the ground, and the kids all looked at him. Jam and Slash both had dropped their jaws at finally seeing Tommy stand up for someone, they then went over to Tommy and asked him to into the Guy's Bathroom for a minute. Tommy agreed, and they entered.
As they entered, they all got into a corner and leaned on the walls. "Dude, you are the man!" Jam and Slash both said to Tommy, "It's about time you started getting into the picture, it's no wonder people ignore you when you don't get involved." Tommy nodded, knowing what they meant; he also shrugged and looked at them both. "Is that all you guys wanted?" Tommy asked, "Just to tell me congratulations?" "No, no, we also have something else to ask of you." Jam said. "Go ahead and tell him Slash." Slash nodded, and began speaking. "Alright, Jam and I were thinking of doing something for Linda after her mother gets out of the hospital, like giving her something, or doing something nice for her. We just don't exactly know what, so that's where we need you, we need you to help with us, so we can all find an idea that'll seriously surprise and make Linda happy, because she's gonna need a lot of happiness to get outta this slump she's in right now." Tommy nodded, knowing that what they were thinking of would be a very interesting idea. It possibly would even help him earn some face with the kids, perhaps make him a bit more recognized, rather than referred to as the burger-scarfing glutton they seemed to stereotype him as. "Alright." Tommy said. "I'm in, but let's figure out what to do AFTER her mom is out of the hospital, we've gotta keep Linda cooled off for now, who knows what she'll do if she's not." They agreed, and went back out, were Linda had already fallen sleep on one of the lobby couches. Nancy was sitting across from Linda, looking at a small children's book, Tommy and Jam went over to sit with Nancy, while Slash went over to sit with Linda.
Linda stirred awake as Slash sat down. She looked at who was next to her, and sat up. "I'm sorry I kind of didn't ask if you guys wanted to stay." Linda said to Slash and everyone, "I had assumed wrongly, and, well, if you want to go, Yanci will give you a ride." The kids all looked to each other, then all decided to stay.
Slash had begun to move closer to Linda, to strike up a conversation. Linda was looking at the glass table they had in the middle of the hospital, still in thought of her mother. "Hey, you gonna be alright Linda?" Slash said to Linda. "I think I'll be alright." Linda replied, not turning to look at Slash. Slash put his hand on Linda's back, and continued to talk, "Look, I know even I can be the biggest jerk of the world, and so can Jam, Tommy, you, heck, even Nancy can be a jerk sometimes, but though the thing you should know is that we're all still a team, we all are together to have fun, and to put a smile on each other's faces, even if we don't like each other at times for things we do. If you have any problems like this, or anything on your mind, it's not bad to just come out to us and tell it, we'll be here with you!" Linda once again, smiled at Slash, this time even giving him a hug. "I think you'd be right Slash." Linda said, "We can be brats, but we're always friends." She smiled again, and slowly fell asleep right on Slash's lap.
Slash, not EVER expecting his rival to be sleeping right in his lap, looked around to the other kids for any sort of help. Jam looked at who was asleep on Slash's lap, and motioned he wouldn't even touch her. Nancy already had gone to sleep in her seat, and Tommy went back to the bathroom. Slash looked down at Linda again, completely baffled as to what do to, so he did the only thing he knew he could do without getting Linda into a nasty fit, he went to sleep sitting up, letting Linda rest her head on his leg as she had been doing, even putting his hand on her head to help her sleep.
So the kids slept, though some uncomfortably, some slept rather calmly than others. Then morning came, the doors opened, the nurses and doctors began moving around again, and finally the kids began to awaken.
Slash awakened to find that Jam had rolled over onto the ground during the night, still sleeping even on the hard tile ground. Nancy had gone peacefully to sleep in her seat, while Tommy was snoring loudly in two seats. Linda was still asleep on Slash's leg, Slash looked down to still see her, and realized his leg was getting numb. He wanted to get Linda off his leg, but didn't want to wake her; finally, he gave up, and decided it's now or never.
He slowly attempted to wake up Linda, who seemed to be sleeping tranquilly; it seems the night had allowed her to finally calm down. Linda blinked a bit, slowly waking up, she rose from lying down, stretching her rested arms and legs, and sat up in her seat. "Morning Linda." Slash said to Linda as she got up off his leg. "Mm?" Linda said sleepily as she still was awakening, she then realized it was Slash, she looked to him and nodded, "Hello Slash, how'd you sleep?" Linda asked Slash. "Well, aside from you sleeping on my leg, I suppose I was alright." Slash replied, Linda gave Slash a funny look, then got up out of her seat. "I wonder how my mom is doing." Linda asked herself, running to the elevator. The sound of her shoes on the tile had awakened a very tired Jam, who found out he was on the floor. "Huh? How'd I end up down here?" Jam said as he got up, he tried stretching out, but the firmness of the tile floor had taken a bit of a toll on his limbs, so uncomfortable, he felt more pain than pleasure by stretching. "Ah, ouch." Jam said as he felt some of his joints pop a bit as he got up, his squirming had awakened Tommy, who let out a loud snort as he woke up. "Uh, mealtime already?" Tommy asked towards Slash's direction. "Please, Tommy, not now." Slash replied. Finally, Nancy woke up, and she must have slept the best of all, besides Linda who had her own type of pillow *Slash's leg*. Nancy got up and did a few jumps before she started looking around. "Where's Linda?" Nancy asked, then she noticed Linda as the elevator door closed while Linda was in it. "She's already going!" Nancy yelled to the other kids.
The other kids wasted no time in taking the other elevator, though they were already behind Linda, they hoped to meet her at the door. They were too late, for Linda had already gone into her mother's room, before they opened the door; they looked at each other, hoping Linda would be ok. Slash put his ear to the door, listening, he made out a sound that sounded like Linda crying again. "Uh, guys, I don't think it's gonna be pretty in there, she's crying, I hope she's alright." Slash said to everyone as he pulled away from the door.
They slowly opened the door, and what they found inside was not a scene of sadness, but a scene of rejoice. Slash and the rest of the kids excluding Linda found Mrs. Maltinie sitting up in her bed, hugging a crying, yet very happy Linda. Slash looked over at Linda and Mrs. Maltinie, and raised an eyebrow. "For a minute I thought she was actually gone, I heard you crying on the other side of the door Linda." Slash said to Linda. Linda looked over to Slash, speaking, "No, no, she's going to be okay, look, her temperature went down, she's at 101.2 for now, she's dropping her temperature fast! She's gonna be okay!" Linda sniffled a bit as she said that, going back into her mother's arms and continuing to hug her. "Darling, its ok." Mrs. Maltinie said as she pet Linda on the head, "I should be home tomorrow at this rate. You go with your friends now, when I get home, I want to see you smiling again Linda."
Linda gave a bright smile to her mother, and cheerfully looked to the other kids. "She's going to be alright, I'm so relieved." Linda said, a little bit of worry still in her. "But now I think it's time we go, let's let my mom get some sleep." Linda took out her cell phone and dialed up Yanci. "Yanci, my mom's fine! She told us to go home for now, pick us up here at the hospital and take us to the house, I want to share something with everyone." Linda spoke into the phone quickly, "Yes Ms. Maltinie, I'll have the foyer set up for your guests." Yanci replied as he acknowledged Linda. Linda hung up the phone, put it away, and began running to the elevator. "C'mon everyone!" she said, with some now renewed spirit, "I got something to talk to you all about!"
The kids followed her, but were confused as to what she was talking about. They met Yanci down in the hospital lobby and were soon on their way to Linda's House again, when they arrived, the kids all sat down in Linda's foyer, and Linda went in between them all and began speaking.
"Alright." she started, "First of all, I want to thank, each, and every one of you for coming to see my mom. I know I am not exactly the nicest and sweetest girl in Snow Town, but I do really appreciate you guys coming and helping me in my time of need. In return, I want to do something to thank you for all of your help. So, Yanci, bring it in."
Almost on cue, Yanci began pushing a very large big screen TV into the foyer, the kids noticed a DVD and VCR at the bottom, as well as more game systems then they could even imagine! All of the kids stared as Yanci plugged the TV in, Linda then continued to talk. "For the rest of the day, I want you all to be as happy as you can be, I'll even allow you to Snowboard on my own house's course!" The kids cheered with delight at Linda's generosity, they quickly scattered and began starting to play different things. Tommy and Jam quickly took over the big screen TV; they began reading through what DVDs and videos Linda had in stock. Nancy on the other hand, went quickly to the top of Linda's course, and began to start practicing her tricks. Slash went over to Linda, looking at her as she went to sit on the foyer couch. "Linda, I have something for you as well." Slash said. Linda looked over at Slash and wondered what he was talking about. Linda was surprised to see her own Star Board in Slash's hands. "You're, giving this back to me?" Linda asked. Slash nodded, and continued to speak. "I did some thinking, you suffered a lot the past few days, I don't think I need to add to that suffering." Linda's eyes almost twinkled with her tears, as she smiled wide, and almost tackled Slash with the biggest hug she'd ever given anyone. Slash was quite surprised at this, but then welcomed the hug, putting his head next to hers.
Linda was very thankful of both Slash's kindness to her, and the fate of her mother, that her mother would continue to live. The day continued quite well, it was quite a festive rest of the day at Linda's house, and more things would happen to the Snowboard Kids in time to come.
But that's another story.
-Michael Melendez
Comments from the Author: I hope you all liked the first volume of "The Snowboard Kids {A FanFic} Volume 1" Volume 2 will soon be started on, so keep yourselves ready for it, because there will be many more volumes to come.
Upon leaving the car, Linda went up to her room and plopped in her bed, Linda's room was of very brilliant design, the walls were painted with a brilliant tan-like color that amplified the sunlight that shone into the room from the overly large window that yawned across the back of the room. One side of the room had her bed, her nightstand for her glasses of water and for some morning cosmetics, as well as her dresser, mirror, closet which was filled to the brim with literally hundreds of different dresses and clothes. The other side of her room had her television, a sofa and recliner with a coffee table between them, another closet for board games, video games and game systems, as well as sleepover gear in case people were sleeping over (sleeping bags, flashlights, etc.)
Linda put her face in a pillow and began thinking to herself, "Why did it have to be my mom who has to suffer like this? She's never done anything to deserve it, if anyone deserves it I do." She stirred in her bed uncomfortably, the thought of her mother not giving her any peace whatsoever. She then thought it best if she went to talk with the rest of the kids, and she still had 20 minutes before Yanci would come to take her to the hospital to see her mom, so she got out of her bed, flicked the light off, and walked out the door and down the long stairs to the foyer.
The kids were sure enough there, Nancy had found a bunny just outside Linda's doorstep, and had brought it into her house to pet it, Linda cracked a smile, as she too liked bunnies, but not to Nancy's extreme. Jam had on a headset, was reclined in the couch, and was listening to some of his favorite bands, he bobbed his head back and forth, and at times to the side, he was quite happy right where he was. Tommy was stuffing his face with a couple hamburgers he had gotten at a restaurant he saw on the way back from Night Highway, "Good thing THESE aren't wax!" he said to himself.
Linda then noticed Slash, he was on the other side of the foyer, sitting on the ground looking at the boards he won, also looking at his own board. Linda walked over to Slash and kneeled down to talk to him, Slash looked over to Linda and then back at his boards. "Mind if I take a look?" Linda asked Slash. Slash nodded, and Linda picked up the Alpine board Jam had lost to Slash. "Wow, it's got almost all of the New York rapping sensations on here!" she said, looking at it with interest. "You could sell that board for a fortune!" "I'm not selling it." Slash replied, looking at Nancy's board. "Oh, I didn't mean you would actually sell it, just meant that it's valuable." Linda said. Slash nodded again, knowing what she meant, and then looked at Nancy's board again. "How's her board?" Linda asked. "Umm, full of bunnies and butterflies." Slash replied, giving the board a questionable look. "Though I do like the arrowed end of the board, makes it a lot faster, but if you tried riding that board backwards, ugh, you'll be bulldozing snow right in your face, no wonder Nancy sometimes has trouble on Silver Mountain." Slash nodded to the board, put it down, and then picked up Linda's Star Board.
Linda realized he was looking at her board, and looked at it herself. "How does it look?" she asked. Slash looked over the Star Board; he noticed there were no scratches, dents, or nicks in the board at all, not even from the rough ground of Night Highway. "How did you manage to get out of Night Highway without even dinging the board?" Slash asked Linda curiously. "I try to turn on the banked turns using the bank as support so I can get more speed, and if you're fast enough, a pile of gravel even seems like a smooth ride over." Linda replied, Slash gave Linda an unsure look, "How much wax you put on this board?" He asked her. "Not much actually, it doesn't need much as the wax I put on stays on for a long time." Linda boasted proudly.
Linda then eyed Slash's board, the Blaze Board he had used. "I couldn't believe you pulled so far in front with that board." She said to Slash, giving him a surprised look, "I thought when you said "Blaze Board" you mean it would only go fast initially, like an Alpine Board, but that board pretty much gobbled up bombs, and then you blasted off like a rocket!" Slash grinned at her comment. "I didn't think it would do that either, it must've been what the flames meant at the back of the board." Slash replied, taking out some board wax and slowly coating his board with it. "To tell you the truth." Slash continued, "I almost fell off my board when it first did that. I thought I had grabbed a speed fan by mistake, but when I felt hot air coming from behind, and saw a bomb and fire, I almost thought it was going to knock me head first into a wall." Slash rubbed his board gently with the wax, making sure his board stayed in top shape. "What'd you get so talkative for all of the sudden?" he asked Linda.
"I'm still worried, and I can't get it out of my head that my mom is at the hospital and not here with me." Linda said, now getting a bit teary from the subject being brought up. Linda rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of any signs of being sad, especially in front of all the kids at once, she hated making a scene of herself in a bad way, and it would ruin her reputation. "She's gonna be fine." Slash insisted. "If I know doctors, when they can't find a way to cure someone one minute, they find out a way in about 2 minutes later, those doctors just get you riled up." Linda shivered slightly, hoping Slash was right, Yanci then came walking down the stairs slowly, walking between the kids and announcing. "If you wish to go to the hospital to see you mother, Ms. Maltinie." Yanci said in his baritone voice, "It should be at this time, we would be there an hour before they close the hospital to visitors." Linda nodded, telling the kids to make their way out front so they could get into the limousine.
The car pulled out front, being driven by Yanci as usual. Linda, this time, got in front and sat next to Yanci, the rest of the kids took seats in the back of the limousine and buckled themselves in, Linda buckled herself in as well, and then Yanci began driving to the hospital.
"Aw, I didn't get to board this time." Tommy said, stuffing another burger into his mouth. "I was hoping to try and get a shot at that course." "Well, you lost." Said Jam, snickering to himself, remembering the small rock, paper, scissors game they had played beforehand. Tommy coughed as he heard Jam, choking a bit on his burger as he coughed it up back into his hand, Nancy gagged as she saw Tommy hurl back up his burger, luckily, Linda didn't hear it, and she wouldn't be yelling at Tommy for doing something disgusting. Tommy grumbled at Jam and hollered, "Hey, just because you won a small game doesn't give you the right to stomp me like that." Jam just gave him a look, wondering what Tommy was talking about, then just looked back down, ignoring him.
They were about half way to the hospital, Linda had turned on some dance music for the rest of the kids, it was Linda's favorite station, and the rest of the kids were enjoying the music, Nancy even began dancing in her seat, Jam bobbed his head to the sides as he did with his headphones on, "Hey, it's not New York, but it's music, so it's good!" He said, grinning as he felt the beat to the music. Slash was being careful not to scoff the signatures on Jam's board as he waxed Jam's board, Tommy had been rummaging in a drawer that was next to his seat, and found a pack of M&Ms that had been left in it since last Easter (And it was November right now), he took the pack, ripped it open, and looked inside. "I wouldn't eat that." said Slash, realizing what the pack was, and when it was from, "You'll be the one sick and not Linda's mom if you eat that." Tommy winced at the thought, opened the window, and tossed the pack out the window. Tommy must have perfectly timed that, as the M&Ms spilled out as he through them out to a very close-by pedestrian, they spilled all over the poor man, and he slipped on the rock hard M&Ms and fell flat on his rear, rubbing his rear as he got up. The man shook his fist at the car as it passed out of sight.
Finally, they were there, at Snow Town Hospital. It was a pretty average hospital, as far as hospitals are concerned, nurses in white suits, doctors in white coats and wearing things over their mouths, and tile hallways that stretched almost endlessly. Linda went up to the reception desk and pleaded, "Where is my mom? Her name is Mrs. Maltinie? I need to see her." The nurse at the desk moved to her computer, and quickly typed up Mrs. Maltinie's name, she then gave Linda a small piece of paper, reading aloud, "Room 274, floor 8." the nurse said. The phone at the desk rang, and the nurse answered it, quickly taking her eyes off Linda and the rest of the kids. "Alright everyone." Linda said to the kids, "She's on Room 274, on floor 8, let's go, she better be alright, I don't know what I'd do if she wasn't." the kids followed Linda to the elevator, they took it up to floor 8, they then walked down a corridor that felt like they ran a mile when they finally reached Room 274, on the door was even a file folder in a little holder that had written on it.
"Mrs. Marlene Maltinie Patient 60536. Doctor: McCarthy"
Linda quickly opened the door, and looked into the room, the room was quite dark, except for a lighted, yet curtained-off bed area in the other corner of the room. "Wait here, and don't come in until I tell you to." Linda said to the kids as she walked closer into the room. Linda felt around the room, making sure she wouldn't bump into anything. Linda almost stumbled on a cord that ran across the room, but she maintained her footing and reached over to the curtained area, peeking between the curtains.
What she saw scared the very wits out of her, two doctors in their white coats and mouth pieces were around her mother, who was laying motionless, except for a hint of her breathing, in the middle of a bed. The doctors had hooked Mrs. Maltinie up to many machines, and she also had some ice packs around her, perhaps to cool her temperature. Linda looked around for any sign of hope for her mother, and sure enough, she found a digital thermometer had been hooked up to her mother as well. It read 107.4, which felt a little better, as it was at least a digit lower then previously told.
"Can I help you little girl?" one of the doctors said, spotting her out of the corner of his eye. "I'm sorry little girl, but you can't see what we're doing right now, you'll have to wait outside the room." Linda looked to the doctor with very pale eyes, and began to plead, "Please let me see my mom, I don't want her to die, please..." the doctor escorted Linda out of the room, though Linda did resist, she was forced out nonetheless. Linda had begun bawling in front of all the kids as she was brought out, she didn't care now if they had seen her or not, she was outright terrified for her mother.
An hour passed, the kids were getting tired of hearing Linda's crying, they were stuck standing in a hallway, waiting for the doctors to finish in the room. Finally, the doctors stepped out of the room, and called Linda over to them. The doctor spoke, "You can go in now, she's resting, and we had iced her down so her temperature would go down, we're giving her some medicines that should restore her electrolytes, so her body can start fighting the sickness again."
Linda worriedly walked into the room, seeing the curtains had been parted, so that she could her sick mother. Her mother was very cold to the touch, and sweating from the exhaustion of what her body was fighting. Linda put her hand upon her mother's forehead, feeling her clammy skin; Linda winced, almost as if she felt her mother's pain. "My god." Linda said weakly, pulling up a stool and looking at her mother sadly, Linda put her head down on her mother's side and began to sob, the rest of the kids began slowly entering the room, looking at Linda crying.
"Geeze, she's really worked up." said Jam, looking at both Linda and her mother, "I think we did the right thing going with Linda to see her mother." Slash added. "I think this won't be the only time we'll see Linda like this." Nancy added, "I mean she can be mean and all, but even a mean and nasty person has a heart." Linda's mother finally began awakening, looking at Linda next to her, "Hello there, darling." Mrs. Maltinie said to her daughter, "What, are you doing here.?" she bit back some of her words from feeling pain within herself, Linda took hold of one of her mother's hands, and sobbed. "I wish this never happened to you mom." Linda said to her mother with tears in her eyes, "You're not the one who deserves this, since when do nice people get punished like this?" Mrs. Maltinie put her other hand behind Linda's head, comforting her, "It's not like that at all Linda." she said, "I merely got sick from something I caught, and I am recovering, if I make it through this, then I do, if I do not, then, I had a good life, if I do leave you, then may your father be both I and you, as I will be with you, always in spirit, not even me leaving can break that." Linda gave her mother a hug, and kissed her on the cheek, tears trickled down her eyes, an obvious sign she was seriously being torn apart by this. Slash and the kids looked as Linda was with her mother, they even had begun to tear up from the event, Tommy blew his nose inside a burger he was eating, Nancy pulled down one of the ears on her rabbit tiara and wiped her eyes with it, and Slash planted his face in Jam's hat while it was still on his head and was bawling. Jam too also had begun sobbing, and Linda was able to hear him.
Linda turned around, looking at the rest of the kids, then looked back to her mother. "I have to go for now mom, I am going to stay here at the hospital, I don't want to leave you alone in here." Linda said to her mother. Mrs. Maltinie smiled to Linda, and nodded, she then closed her eyes to go to sleep.
Linda motioned to Slash, Jam, Nancy, and Tommy to get out of the room, along with her. They all went back to the lobby, where Yanci himself was waiting for them.
"Is Mrs. Maltinie alright Ms. Maltinie?" Yanci asked Linda. "She's still badly ill; they just gave her a new medicine." Linda said, "Hopefully by tomorrow we'll know how she does." Linda then went up to the reception desk to talk to the nurse, the nurse though, was on the phone with a friend of hers, and from what the conversation seemed, it was the nurse's boyfriend.
Linda grumbled at waiting, went behind the desk, snatched the phone out of the nurse's hand and slammed it on the hook. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!" the nurse shouted at Linda, "Your 'sugar-lumpkins' can wait!" Linda yelled back at her, "I have a mom who is dying, and I need to ask you something about it, now LISTEN!" The nurse completely froze from hearing Linda's voice so loud, the kids though didn't at all find it surprising, as she would do that a lot at school.
Linda talked to the nurse, and was able to get the nurse to let them stay overnight, when Linda came back to tell everyone what she had been talking to the nurse about, Jam stood up and gave her a look. "You mean we gotta spend the night with the sick guys and people in here?" he said. Slash too also began complaining of the same thing, Nancy was watching as they began arguing. Tommy on the other hand, got up and walked in between them all. "Alright, that does it." Tommy said, "I been too quiet, it's time I said something. I think we should all respect what Linda is doing, I mean look at her, she already let herself go in front of all of us, completely letting her tears flow right in the middle of the hallway, and right in front of her mom, she's really worried about it, and if Linda's any friend of yours, you'll stay and see this through, that's what I'm doing!" Tommy stomped his foot on the ground, and the kids all looked at him. Jam and Slash both had dropped their jaws at finally seeing Tommy stand up for someone, they then went over to Tommy and asked him to into the Guy's Bathroom for a minute. Tommy agreed, and they entered.
As they entered, they all got into a corner and leaned on the walls. "Dude, you are the man!" Jam and Slash both said to Tommy, "It's about time you started getting into the picture, it's no wonder people ignore you when you don't get involved." Tommy nodded, knowing what they meant; he also shrugged and looked at them both. "Is that all you guys wanted?" Tommy asked, "Just to tell me congratulations?" "No, no, we also have something else to ask of you." Jam said. "Go ahead and tell him Slash." Slash nodded, and began speaking. "Alright, Jam and I were thinking of doing something for Linda after her mother gets out of the hospital, like giving her something, or doing something nice for her. We just don't exactly know what, so that's where we need you, we need you to help with us, so we can all find an idea that'll seriously surprise and make Linda happy, because she's gonna need a lot of happiness to get outta this slump she's in right now." Tommy nodded, knowing that what they were thinking of would be a very interesting idea. It possibly would even help him earn some face with the kids, perhaps make him a bit more recognized, rather than referred to as the burger-scarfing glutton they seemed to stereotype him as. "Alright." Tommy said. "I'm in, but let's figure out what to do AFTER her mom is out of the hospital, we've gotta keep Linda cooled off for now, who knows what she'll do if she's not." They agreed, and went back out, were Linda had already fallen sleep on one of the lobby couches. Nancy was sitting across from Linda, looking at a small children's book, Tommy and Jam went over to sit with Nancy, while Slash went over to sit with Linda.
Linda stirred awake as Slash sat down. She looked at who was next to her, and sat up. "I'm sorry I kind of didn't ask if you guys wanted to stay." Linda said to Slash and everyone, "I had assumed wrongly, and, well, if you want to go, Yanci will give you a ride." The kids all looked to each other, then all decided to stay.
Slash had begun to move closer to Linda, to strike up a conversation. Linda was looking at the glass table they had in the middle of the hospital, still in thought of her mother. "Hey, you gonna be alright Linda?" Slash said to Linda. "I think I'll be alright." Linda replied, not turning to look at Slash. Slash put his hand on Linda's back, and continued to talk, "Look, I know even I can be the biggest jerk of the world, and so can Jam, Tommy, you, heck, even Nancy can be a jerk sometimes, but though the thing you should know is that we're all still a team, we all are together to have fun, and to put a smile on each other's faces, even if we don't like each other at times for things we do. If you have any problems like this, or anything on your mind, it's not bad to just come out to us and tell it, we'll be here with you!" Linda once again, smiled at Slash, this time even giving him a hug. "I think you'd be right Slash." Linda said, "We can be brats, but we're always friends." She smiled again, and slowly fell asleep right on Slash's lap.
Slash, not EVER expecting his rival to be sleeping right in his lap, looked around to the other kids for any sort of help. Jam looked at who was asleep on Slash's lap, and motioned he wouldn't even touch her. Nancy already had gone to sleep in her seat, and Tommy went back to the bathroom. Slash looked down at Linda again, completely baffled as to what do to, so he did the only thing he knew he could do without getting Linda into a nasty fit, he went to sleep sitting up, letting Linda rest her head on his leg as she had been doing, even putting his hand on her head to help her sleep.
So the kids slept, though some uncomfortably, some slept rather calmly than others. Then morning came, the doors opened, the nurses and doctors began moving around again, and finally the kids began to awaken.
Slash awakened to find that Jam had rolled over onto the ground during the night, still sleeping even on the hard tile ground. Nancy had gone peacefully to sleep in her seat, while Tommy was snoring loudly in two seats. Linda was still asleep on Slash's leg, Slash looked down to still see her, and realized his leg was getting numb. He wanted to get Linda off his leg, but didn't want to wake her; finally, he gave up, and decided it's now or never.
He slowly attempted to wake up Linda, who seemed to be sleeping tranquilly; it seems the night had allowed her to finally calm down. Linda blinked a bit, slowly waking up, she rose from lying down, stretching her rested arms and legs, and sat up in her seat. "Morning Linda." Slash said to Linda as she got up off his leg. "Mm?" Linda said sleepily as she still was awakening, she then realized it was Slash, she looked to him and nodded, "Hello Slash, how'd you sleep?" Linda asked Slash. "Well, aside from you sleeping on my leg, I suppose I was alright." Slash replied, Linda gave Slash a funny look, then got up out of her seat. "I wonder how my mom is doing." Linda asked herself, running to the elevator. The sound of her shoes on the tile had awakened a very tired Jam, who found out he was on the floor. "Huh? How'd I end up down here?" Jam said as he got up, he tried stretching out, but the firmness of the tile floor had taken a bit of a toll on his limbs, so uncomfortable, he felt more pain than pleasure by stretching. "Ah, ouch." Jam said as he felt some of his joints pop a bit as he got up, his squirming had awakened Tommy, who let out a loud snort as he woke up. "Uh, mealtime already?" Tommy asked towards Slash's direction. "Please, Tommy, not now." Slash replied. Finally, Nancy woke up, and she must have slept the best of all, besides Linda who had her own type of pillow *Slash's leg*. Nancy got up and did a few jumps before she started looking around. "Where's Linda?" Nancy asked, then she noticed Linda as the elevator door closed while Linda was in it. "She's already going!" Nancy yelled to the other kids.
The other kids wasted no time in taking the other elevator, though they were already behind Linda, they hoped to meet her at the door. They were too late, for Linda had already gone into her mother's room, before they opened the door; they looked at each other, hoping Linda would be ok. Slash put his ear to the door, listening, he made out a sound that sounded like Linda crying again. "Uh, guys, I don't think it's gonna be pretty in there, she's crying, I hope she's alright." Slash said to everyone as he pulled away from the door.
They slowly opened the door, and what they found inside was not a scene of sadness, but a scene of rejoice. Slash and the rest of the kids excluding Linda found Mrs. Maltinie sitting up in her bed, hugging a crying, yet very happy Linda. Slash looked over at Linda and Mrs. Maltinie, and raised an eyebrow. "For a minute I thought she was actually gone, I heard you crying on the other side of the door Linda." Slash said to Linda. Linda looked over to Slash, speaking, "No, no, she's going to be okay, look, her temperature went down, she's at 101.2 for now, she's dropping her temperature fast! She's gonna be okay!" Linda sniffled a bit as she said that, going back into her mother's arms and continuing to hug her. "Darling, its ok." Mrs. Maltinie said as she pet Linda on the head, "I should be home tomorrow at this rate. You go with your friends now, when I get home, I want to see you smiling again Linda."
Linda gave a bright smile to her mother, and cheerfully looked to the other kids. "She's going to be alright, I'm so relieved." Linda said, a little bit of worry still in her. "But now I think it's time we go, let's let my mom get some sleep." Linda took out her cell phone and dialed up Yanci. "Yanci, my mom's fine! She told us to go home for now, pick us up here at the hospital and take us to the house, I want to share something with everyone." Linda spoke into the phone quickly, "Yes Ms. Maltinie, I'll have the foyer set up for your guests." Yanci replied as he acknowledged Linda. Linda hung up the phone, put it away, and began running to the elevator. "C'mon everyone!" she said, with some now renewed spirit, "I got something to talk to you all about!"
The kids followed her, but were confused as to what she was talking about. They met Yanci down in the hospital lobby and were soon on their way to Linda's House again, when they arrived, the kids all sat down in Linda's foyer, and Linda went in between them all and began speaking.
"Alright." she started, "First of all, I want to thank, each, and every one of you for coming to see my mom. I know I am not exactly the nicest and sweetest girl in Snow Town, but I do really appreciate you guys coming and helping me in my time of need. In return, I want to do something to thank you for all of your help. So, Yanci, bring it in."
Almost on cue, Yanci began pushing a very large big screen TV into the foyer, the kids noticed a DVD and VCR at the bottom, as well as more game systems then they could even imagine! All of the kids stared as Yanci plugged the TV in, Linda then continued to talk. "For the rest of the day, I want you all to be as happy as you can be, I'll even allow you to Snowboard on my own house's course!" The kids cheered with delight at Linda's generosity, they quickly scattered and began starting to play different things. Tommy and Jam quickly took over the big screen TV; they began reading through what DVDs and videos Linda had in stock. Nancy on the other hand, went quickly to the top of Linda's course, and began to start practicing her tricks. Slash went over to Linda, looking at her as she went to sit on the foyer couch. "Linda, I have something for you as well." Slash said. Linda looked over at Slash and wondered what he was talking about. Linda was surprised to see her own Star Board in Slash's hands. "You're, giving this back to me?" Linda asked. Slash nodded, and continued to speak. "I did some thinking, you suffered a lot the past few days, I don't think I need to add to that suffering." Linda's eyes almost twinkled with her tears, as she smiled wide, and almost tackled Slash with the biggest hug she'd ever given anyone. Slash was quite surprised at this, but then welcomed the hug, putting his head next to hers.
Linda was very thankful of both Slash's kindness to her, and the fate of her mother, that her mother would continue to live. The day continued quite well, it was quite a festive rest of the day at Linda's house, and more things would happen to the Snowboard Kids in time to come.
But that's another story.
-Michael Melendez
Comments from the Author: I hope you all liked the first volume of "The Snowboard Kids {A FanFic} Volume 1" Volume 2 will soon be started on, so keep yourselves ready for it, because there will be many more volumes to come.